Armature mold



Oct. 29, 1935. v. G. APPLE 2,019,064

ARMATURE MOLD Filed Deo. 2, 1955 Patented Oct. 29, 1935 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE ARMATURE MOLD 'Application December 2, 1933, Serial No. '700,720

4 claims.

'I'his invention relates to armatures and particularly to those having a slotted core, a winding in the slots, and a commutator at each end of the winding.

The object of the invention is to provide an armature of this type together with means and a method of producing it which will have a better running balance and less wind resistance to ro- Y tation, and wherein the windings will be impervious to moisture or other foreign matter, by

molding a jacket of thermo-plastic insulation which will, in a single concentric piece, extend through and about the winding heads at the ends of the core and through and about the coils where they pass through vthe core.

It has heretofore been proposed to mold an impervious jacket of insulation through and about the core and coils of an armature having a commutator at one end only, but when, as in the present invention, the core is comparatively long and there is a conventional commutator at each end, with risers which extend to nearly the outer diameter of the armature, the problem is somewhat more difiicult. The inventor solved this problem by the procedure and apparatus hereinafter described, reference being had to the drawing wherein- Fig. 1 is a plan view of a wound armature with commutator in place;

Fig. 2 shows the armature in a xture for pressing the coils toward the bottoms of the slots.

Fig. 3 shows the armature in a mold together with a proper quantity of unmolded thermoplastic insulation.

Fig. 4 shows the mold Fig..3 after it is closed and the Iiacket is molded.

Fig. 5 shows the completed armature after it is removed from the mold.

Similar numerals refer to similar parts throughout the several views.

In the armature I0 which has been selected to illustrate the invention the core II isy mounted on the shaft I2 to rotate therewith. 'I'he winding slots I3 are separated by teeth I4 and are of suiiicient depth to admit two windings. A winding comprising coil sides I5 and end turns I5 of coarse wire is wound into the inner half of the slots. Another winding 'of finer wire comprising coil sides I'I and end turns I 8 is wound into the out/er half of the slots. Commutators I 9 and 20 are secured to opposite ends of the shaft. The finer wire winding is electrically con.- nected to the risers 2| of commutator I9 at 22 and the coarser wire winding is electrically con- (C1. Iii-42) nected to the risers 23 of commutator 20 at 24. The armature I0 then appearsas in Fig. 1.

, In an embodiment of the invention such asis herein shown, where the outer winding is of comparatively iine wire, the windings are preferably 5 put through some hardening process to make them rigid before attempting to mold a jacket of insulation about them. This hardening process may be accomplished by introducing a liquid insulating material into the windings and baking it. The liquid insulation may be gotten into the windingsV in several dierent ways, by dipping them, by placing the wound armature into an impregnating tank and forcing the liquid into the winding, or by drawing the wire through a 1 tank of the liquid before it is wound into the coils. But howeverv the liquid is introduced into the windings it is put into an oven or otherwise treated -to harden the windings and make a rigid structure before a jacket of vthermo-plastic insulation is molded about them. l

It is highly desirable that the jacket of insulation which surrounds the windings be in one continuous piece in which vthe portions oi' the insulation mass which enclose the end turns IIS and I 8 are connected by a series of integral struts of the same material which pass through the Awinding slots and cover the coill sides I5 and II contained therein. It is therefore a part of this 30 process to provide space in the outer ends of the. winding slots for such integral struts of insulation. Fig. 2 shows the armature after the ycoils have been saturated with liquid insulation but before they have been baked or otherwise treated 35 to harden them. 'I'he armature is here shown in a fiXture`25 which is designed to i'orce the coils toward the bottoms of the winding slots in order to leave Va small portion at the outer edge of each slot vacant after the liouid has been hardened. 40 The fixture comprises a base 26 having as many radial slots 2'! as there are winding slots in the core. Slots 21 are of the same width as the winding slots are at their outer edges. The base is cupped out at 2!! to receive the commutator 20.

With an armature I0 in the base 25. a series of wedges 3l, corresponding in'number to the slots in the core. are placed with their wide ends 32 in the slots 2'! of the base and their edges 33 in the winding slots I3 of the core. A tapered Yring '34 is then pressed downward over the series of wedges 3l to hold the coil sides I5 and I1 to the bottoms of the core slots, whereupon the armature and fixture are heated or otherwise treated to harden the coils. When the winding has been hardened and the fixture 25 has been 55 removed the winding slots will have vacant passages 36 at their outer edges (see Fig. 3), and the armature is now ready to have the jacket of thermo-plastic insulation molded around it.

Fig. 3 shows the armature in the mold 31, which comprises a body 38, preferably of square cross section, with a cylindrical opening of several different sizes, the lower end fitting the commutator 26, the middle fitting the core teeth i4 closely, and the upper Yend being adapted to receive the slidably iitted hollow plunger 42. The commu,- tator 28 rests on shoulders 43 and 44, and the nut 46 holds the armature against upward movement in the body 38. ,Y

A cylindrical cap 41 covers the. upper half of the armature in substantially the same manner as the body 38 covers the lower half. Cap 41 at its lower end fits the core teeth I4 and at its middle part the commutator I9. A nut 5l draws the cap 41 against the armature, the shoulders 52 and 53 resting against the commutator. When the body 38 and the cap 41 are assembled with the armature there is left vacant in the mold two cylindrical spaces 54 around the end turns I6 and 18 which are connectedV by a plurality of the passages 36 extending along the coil sides I1. The capv 41 is of such length that itsv lower end is slightly spaced apart from the body 38 so as to Y leave the narrow passage 56.

With the armature assembledv in the body 38 and the cap 41 in place the structure together with the hollow'plunger 42 is heated, and when a predetermined temperature is reached a prel formed cylindrical slug 51 of thermo plastic insulation is put in the upper end of the body 38 Aand the plunger 42 is entered andipressure applied thereto (see Fig. 3). When the slug 51 absorbs sufficient heat from the mold to becomer plastic the plunger 42', due to the pressure thereon, will move downwardly, forcing the insulation through the narrow passage 56, downwardly and upwardly through the passages 36 left by the wedges 3l into the cylinder spaces 54, forml ing around the winding a jacket 58 (see Fig. 4)

of insulation which is substantially continuous except where the core teeth I4 cutthrough'it to the outside (see Fig. 5).

Fig. 4 showsthemold 31 closed, all of the slug 51 having been transferred through the passage 56 to form the jacket 58. Horizontal openings 59v (see Fig. 3) through` the body 38, and an annular groove 6l (see Fig. 4) aroundv the plunger 42 are at the same height when the mold is closed so that the locking bars 62 may be entered therethrough to hold the mold closed until harden-ing of the insulation has taken place; Vent holes 63` permit the escapev of air and other gases from the mold. Y

When the insulationY jacket 58A (see Fig. 4) is hard the nut 46 is removed and the armature together with thecap 41 is pushed upwardly from the mold. The nut 5l is then removed and the cap is held by the groove 6'4 and the armature pushed from the cap. 1 When the iin 66, left in the pass-age 56 has been turned off or otherwise removed the armature appears as in Fig.'5.

From a considerationv of Fig. 5 it will be seen that the armature isisubstantially asoli-d cylinder of insulation with the windings completely enclosed therein, the outer surfaces only of theY cere' teeth extending through the periphery and Ythe two commutators protruding from the ends.

Such'a structure is impervious Yto oil, moisture, -acid fumes and other foreignmatter to which armatures in certain situations are subjected,

- sonably pl-astic, and the herein disclosed apparatus meets this requirement in that the heavy downward pressure on. the plunger 42 only serves Y to force the preformed slug 51 of unmolded insulation against the shoulder 61 of mold body 38, 15 and it isnot until the slug 51 softens, that it is possible to force it laterally from under the end of the plunger 42v through the narrow passage 56 to the winding.

Second, when molding compounds are employed 20 in which the period of reactionY is short, it is important that no great volume of the unmolded insulation be very far removed from a heated wall of the mold, for, since iiuxing of the charge depends on heat drawn from the walls of the 25 mold with which it is-in contact, it is readily seen that wherer the apparatus is so constructed that the charge is in the form of a large solid cylinder, the center of sucha cylinder being far from the mold wall will likely be so slow in becoming fluid 30" that its outside will be cured beforeu its center is iluxed, and it is with this difficulty in mind that the stock chamber of the mold herein disclosed, and.v theY preformed slug of insulation which it contains, is molded inthe form of a hollow cylin- 35 der, so that the thin walled slugis in contact both inside and outside with a heated wall of the mold, and will consequently become, Huid through and through before theA outersurfaces have reacted and become hard. Y i l Y 0 Third, in molding .the .thin walled jacket. 58 of insulation therplastic compound must travel through a considerable length betweenV two heatedwalls that are close togethenand unless the insulation, vimmediately before it becomes plastic, 5 is moved rapidlylinto its final position, that part of it which necessarily travels farthest sometimes becomes hard before it reaches its final place, and it is with this diculty in mind that the Vnarrow passage 56 has been vplaced midway 50Y of the vlengthof thearmature instead of at the end, so that the outer ends of the jacket 58 need travel only half the armature length between the close together hot surfaces of the mold on the outside and the armature winding on the inside. 55*

Having described an embodiment of the invention, it is claimed: A y Y* y 1. For molding a jacket ofvinsulation around the win-ding of an armaturaa mold comprising a body having a cavity of slightly greater diamr- 60 eter than the winding'and slightly less than half its length with an opening to concentrically support the one-half of said armature in said body,

a cap having a cavity of slightly greater diameter n than the winding and slighuyiess than half its 05 length, with an opening to concentrically support said cap on'said armature, s-aid body having a stock chamber surrounding said cap at some distance therefrom, and a plunger in the form of a Y hollow cylinder having outerk Idiameter slidably tted to said stock chamber and inner diameter slidably fitted over said cap. Y

2. A mold such as is defined in claim 1 but with an annular groove around said plunger, A

corresponding openings through said body and 'n locking bars in said groovev extending through said openings.

3. In a mold for molding an article of thermo plastic material, a' mold body containing a cavity of the shape of the article tobe molded and a stock chamber in the shape of a hollow cylinder encircling the mold cavity at such distance therefrom as to leave a Wall between the mold cavity and the encircling stock chamber, said wall being interrupted at the bottom of said stock chamber thereby connecting said stock chamber and said cavity by a narrow passage at said bottom, and a mold plunger in the form of a hollow cylinder slidably iitted to said encircling stock chamber.

4. A mold for molding an article of thermobeing connected at its bottom to said mold cavity by a narrow restricted passage.

HERBERT F. APPLE, EDWARD vM. APPLE, g' GOURLEY DARROCH. Executofrs of the Estate of Vincent G. Apple, De-

ceased. 

